1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape cutting device cutting off an empty tape discharged from a tape feeder by opening and closing operation of two cutting blades and a tape feeder changing carriage which includes such tape cutting device and with which an install and a removal of a plurality of tape feeders mounted thereon to the component mounting apparatus are performed.
2. Related Art
The tape feeder is attached to a predetermined position in the component mounting apparatus and supplies components to a pick-up position to a mount head by feeding a tape for supplying components. A so-called empty tape that is left after supplying components is cut off by opening/closing operation of two cutter blades in a tape cutting device disposed below the tape feeder, and collected in a box-shaped tape collecting device disposed below the tape cutting device.
When a plurality of such tape feeder changing carriages are installed to a component mounting apparatus, install operations and removal operations are usually troublesome and require heavy workload. Therefore, conventionally, there has been proposed a tape feeder changing carriage with which a plurality of tape feeders can be installed together to the component mounting apparatus. In such a tape feeder changing carriage, a feeder base to which the tape feeders are mounted is provided in a carriage body portion that is movable by operating a lever. The tape feeder changing carriage is able to install and remove the tape feeders collectively to the component mounting apparatus by attaching and detaching the carriage body portion to the component mounting apparatus. When the tape feeder changing carriage is attached to the component mounting apparatus, the tape cutting device provided in the component mounting apparatus enters into a space below the feeder base of the tape feeder changing carriage. The tape discharged from the tape feeder is guided to the tape cutting device by a tape guiding member provided on the tape feeder side or the component mounting apparatus side. See Japanese Patent No. 3861694.
However, as described above, in a conventional case that the tape discharged from the tape feeder is configured to pass through a member on the component mounting apparatus side (namely the tape cutting device), the operation to introduce the tape led from each tape feeder to the tape cutting device is allowed to be performed only after the tape feeder has been installed to the component mounting apparatus (namely, after the tape feeder changing carriage has been attached to the component mounting apparatus). Further, the operation to remove the tape feeder from the component mounting apparatus (namely, the operation to detach the tape feeder changing carriage from the component mounting apparatus) is allowed to be performed only after removing the empty tape extended from each tape feeder out of the tape cutting device. Accordingly, it takes time to perform the install operation and removal operation of the tape feeders, so that throughput of mounting the components by the component mounting apparatus is deteriorated.
Moreover, the conventional tape cutting device as described above is often configured such that two cutting blades are kept open when the device is not operated. Accordingly, there is a fear that foreign matters intervenes between two cutting blades to cause troubles.